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INEC Defends Exclusion of Governorship Candidates, Says Parties Flouted Supreme Court-Backed Membership Rule
INEC Defends Exclusion of Governorship Candidates, Says Parties Flouted Supreme Court-Backed Membership Rule
INEC says parties that failed mandatory membership-register requirements are ineligible to sponsor candidates for 2027 governorship elections.
Pantami, Adebutu and candidates in Kano, Kaduna, Cross River and Benue are among prominent names missing from final lists.
The Supreme Court upheld disputed Electoral Act provisions after the Court of Appeal had nullified them, forcing INEC to apply the ruling to governorship lists.
Parties claiming their candidates were wrongly omitted have 14 days to notify INEC, with October 24 fixed as the deadline.
October 14, () – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has defended the exclusion of some governorship candidates from the final list for the 2027 elections, declaring that political parties which failed to comply with the membership-register provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 cannot sponsor candidates.
The clarification came amid a widening controversy over missing names across several states, with high-profile candidates, including former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State, and Ladi Adebutu of the PDP in Ogun State, absent from the final lists published by the Commission.
Reported omissions also include Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kano State and Danjuma La’ah of the NDC in Kaduna State.
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In Cross River, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and John Upan Odey Jr. of the NDC were reported missing from the final list, while Prof. Sebastine Hon, SAN, of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was omitted in Benue.
In the statement signed by National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, INEC anchored its decision on the September 24, 2026 judgment of the Supreme Court in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, Appeal No. SC/CV/495/2026.
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The commission said the apex court upheld Sections 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 as constitutional and mandatory for all political parties.
The provisions require the submission of membership registers as a prerequisite for the conduct of valid party primaries.
According to INEC, the Supreme Court also upheld Item No. 2 of the Commission’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities, which required political parties to submit their membership registers between April 21 and May 10, 2026.
More significantly for the affected parties, the Commission said the apex court held that failure to comply with Sections 77(5)-(7) renders a defaulting political party ineligible to sponsor any candidate for the election.
INEC said that parties which failed to meet the requirement were excluded when it finalised the governorship candidates’ lists.
“In accordance with Section 287(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Commission, while finalizing the list of candidates for the Governorship election applied the above decision of the Supreme Court and excluded political parties that failed to comply with Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026, in relation to fielding of candidates,” INEC said.
Pantami, Adebutu Among High-Profile Omissions
Pantami’s absence from the Gombe list has emerged as one of the most contentious cases.
INEC’s final list contains 16 governorship candidates in Gombe but no PDP candidate, despite Pantami emerging from a fresh party primary on September 29.
The fresh exercise followed a September 24 Federal High Court decision nullifying the primary through which the former minister initially emerged and ordering the PDP to conduct another exercise. Pantami subsequently won the rerun.
In Ogun, Adebutu and his running mate are also absent from the final list of 13 governorship candidates, leaving the PDP without a governorship candidate on the published list.
The Ogun PDP has rejected allegations that Adebutu was not contained in the membership register submitted to INEC, insisting that he registered within the stipulated period and that the relevant information was submitted to the Commission.
The omissions are not limited to the PDP. In Kano, Gwarzo and his running mate, Mustapha Rabi’u Kwankwaso, are missing from the final list. The NDC has disputed the omission and said it would take steps to have the ticket restored.
La’ah’s NDC ticket in Kaduna was also omitted. The party’s state leadership has attributed the development to errors in the online submission process.
Cross River, Benue Candidates Also Missing
In Cross River, the final governorship list contains eight candidates, with ADC candidate Toyo and NDC candidate Odey absent.
Odey has described his omission as a bureaucratic error and indicated that the matter would be taken up with INEC, while Toyo’s ticket has also been complicated by a separate dispute over the ADC candidacy.
In Benue, Hon, the SDP governorship candidate, is similarly absent from the final list, which contains 12 governorship candidates. He has described the omission as an error and expressed confidence that the issue would be addressed.
Supreme Court Judgment Alters 2027 Electoral Landscape
At the heart of the controversy is a legal battle over the membership-register provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 and their implications for party primaries.
The Court of Appeal had earlier nullified Sections 77(5)-(7), which require political parties to submit membership registers as a prerequisite for conducting valid primaries.
INEC challenged that decision at the Supreme Court. On September 24, the apex court upheld the provisions as constitutional and mandatory, restoring the legal foundation for INEC to enforce the requirement.
The Supreme Court also upheld the constitutionality of the Commission’s timetable requiring political parties to submit their membership registers between April 21 and May 10.
Most consequentially, according to INEC, the court held that failure to comply renders a defaulting political party ineligible to sponsor a candidate.
The ruling effectively elevated compliance with the membership-register provisions beyond an internal party procedural matter to a statutory requirement capable of determining whether a party can field candidates.
INEC said Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution compelled it to give effect to the Supreme Court decision when finalising the governorship candidates’ lists.
Why Presidential, NASS Lists Were Unaffected
INEC also explained why the Supreme Court judgment was applied to the governorship lists after the Commission had already published the final lists of presidential and National Assembly candidates.
According to the Commission, the final presidential and National Assembly lists were published on September 12, 2026, while the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on September 24 — 13 days later.
The governorship lists, however, were still being finalised after the judgment had been delivered.
INEC said it therefore applied the Supreme Court decision while finalising the governorship candidates’ lists in accordance with its constitutional obligation to enforce decisions of the apex court.
October 24 Deadline For Parties To Notify INEC
INEC said political parties that believe their candidates were wrongly omitted from the final governorship list have 14 days from the date of publication to notify the Commission.
The Commission said the provision is contained in Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 and fixed October 24, 2026, as the deadline for such notification.
“Under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, political parties that believe their candidates were wrongly left off the list have 14 days from the date of publication to notify the Commission. The deadline is 24th October, 2026,” INEC said.
The Commission assured the public of its commitment to “transparency, the rule of law and the credibility of the electoral process.”
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